A power system may include a power control circuit, a plurality of power switches (e.g., metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs)) coupled to and controlled by the power control circuit, and a load (e.g., a motor) coupled to and driven by the power switches.
The power control circuit may include a power management circuit, a driver circuit, control logic, diagnostic logic, or other circuits. The power management circuit may be used for generating and/or regulating power supply voltages. The control logic may include a micro-controller that monitors and controls the operation of the power system. A motor driver can have a controller that generates a pulse-width modulated signal used to produce drive signals for the power switches for different phases of the motor.
Power control circuits may be implemented on semiconductor substrates as integrated circuit (IC) chips, such as power control ICs (may also be referred to as gate drivers, or gate driver ICs). Due to the small footprint and energy efficiencies of gate driver ICs, gate driver ICs are widely used in various applications and products across different industries, e.g., such as consumer electronics, industrial control, medical equipment, aviation, and automotive.
Depending on the specific applications of the power system, various loads (e.g., different motors) of the power system may operate at different voltages and may need different driving capabilities from the gate driver IC. The gate driver IC, however, may not be able to accommodate all of the different requirements (e.g., driving voltages, driving current) of different applications. Re-designing (e.g., customizing) the gate driver IC for different applications, however, may be costly and time-consuming. There is a need in the art for power systems that can adapt to various applications while using a same gate driver IC.